When Town Officials Gaslight
At the Millbury Board of Selectmen meeting on Tuesday, January 10, 2023, Mary Krumsiek, Chairperson of the Millbury Board of Selectmen, read a prepared statement outlining an accounting of events for a proposed Chapter 40B Local Initiative Program (LIP) project at 17 Rice Road in Millbury, Massachusetts prior to allowing any resident to speak. Mary Krumsiek stated that the Chapter 40B LIP agreement had been signed. According to the agreement, on December 21, 2022, Mary Krumseik executed the agreement, and then on December 27, 2022, developer Steven Venincasa executed the agreement as the signatory of Rice Pond Village, LLC.
Why then after December 27, 2022, did Mary Krumsiek and Sean Hendricks, Town Manager, tell multiple individuals in multiple separate conversations that the Chapter 40B LIP agreement was either not ready for execution because it was still with town council or that it had not been executed? This contradiction has certainly raised questions in many people’s minds and concerns about the credibility of these two town officials. If the Chapter 40B LIP agreement had been executed, as dated on the Chapter 40B Local Initiative Program agreement, then why wouldn’t Mary Krumsiek and Sean Hendricks simply convey this information? Why wasn’t the Chapter 40B LIP agreement made available upon request or published to the town’s official website as a matter of public record? This situation is very concerning for many residents and taxpayers as it can lead to a breakdown in trust of public officials.
Many have questioned why most of this Chapter 40B LIP agreement was negotiated out of public view and scrutiny?
With a simple Internet search, our neighborhood was able to find the Town of Harvard’s Procedure for Partnering on A Local Initiative Program Project, that involves providing detailed information to the public and at least one public hearing prior to entering into a Chapter 40B LIP agreement. Why aren’t town officials leveraging and embracing good public work products of other communities?
The Chapter 40B LIP agreement between the Town of Millbury and Rice Pond Village, LLC has been executed, so we need to move forward, but we hope that our town officials learn from these missteps and are much more transparent and truthful moving forward. This is our town and we, the residents and taxpayers, do have a say in the actions taken by our elected and appointed officials on our behalf.
Sean Hendricks stated that the Chapter 40 LIP agreement (.pdf) would be uploaded to the town’s website on Wednesday, January 12, 2023.